Protector of Men Ch 8
It was a much different situation now. Zandra stood motionless for a moment, desperately searching for inspiration on what to do. The second agent in front of her was just straightening his tie, now smoothing out his jacket. It was her chance for a head start, and she ran straight across the busy street into a back alleyway. Her hair was falling out of her ponytail, and started to fall in her eyes. This is not the time! The first agent was still trailing her, now closer because of her momentary pause. She had to continue, had to find a way to beat them. For now, all she could do was run.
Kesia was worried about Zandra back in Purgatory, unsure of the inevitable outcome. What was she going to do? Her palms began to sweat as she continued to watch her in the program. Zandra seemed like she knew what she was doing, but it just seemed like too much too quickly. After all, the agents weren't much of a presence in the Matrix, anyway. And it looked really hard. But she continued to watch the program in silence, wordlessly hoping that she would triumph.
Cover also continued to watch. It was only he and Kesia; Cover had specifically asked everyone else to stay out of the control room for the day. It was probably going to be frustrating enough for her when she finally succumbed - he didn't want her to be further bothered by the presence of the others again. She needed to focus, to concentrate.
Zandra was still running, now with two agents in close pursuit. She was holding her own though, successfully keeping them at the same distance. She was doing well, almost knowing when to turn in the darkened alleyways. Still, she couldn't run forever.
There were doors to her right and left, and she figured that she should go through one of them at some point. Maybe she could get to the roof of a building, or something - maybe she could attack one of them...
With an astonishing burst of speed, she ran to one of the doors and attempted to open it. It was locked. She still had a moment, and sprinted to the next door. It was locked, too. The agents were still running; they were getting closer. She only had a second left before they would catch up - not enough time to check another door. Instead she decided to kick it open and in doing so, revealed nothing but a white void.
What?
One of the agents pulled out a gun and began to shoot. Zandra was still confused.
What?
She was hit in the arm. In the meantime the other agent caught up to her and kicked her in the side of her chest. Zandra was sent flying into a wooden fence, all of twenty feet away. She was in a daze. Get up, a part of her screamed. She again pulled herself to her feet before the agents could reach her. Her shoulder burned with pain, but she could still move. She was still alive. She started to run again to the right, heading out of the alley and towards the sunlit opening. The agents were behind her, and now both of them were firing.
She couldn't hear the shots fired though she knew they were. She was too focused. Get out of range. Her shoulder was searing with pain. It's not real, she told herself, but was it? She knew that Cover would probably be checking her vitals that moment back in Purgatory. It wasn't real until she failed.
There were more shots behind her, and Zandra suddenly felt pain shoot up her leg. She tripped and fell to the ground, scrambling to get back up.
"I won't fail," She yelled as the agents slowly approached. They weren't firing anymore. Instantly, everything turned white.
She was back in Purgatory, Cover standing over her.
"Good job," He said. Kesia looked back at her, smiling. She looked a little nervous.
"Am I okay?" Zandra asked, still strapped in. There was no pain. She had been shot twice, and kicked and punched by agents – and somehow, not feeling pain didn't make sense.
"Remember what I told you?" he asked, "They can only hurt you so much. We designed it so you would have no lasting injuries."
"Oh."
They paused. Zandra was waiting for Cover to unstrap her, but he made no movement to. She looked at him questioningly.
"I think you should try another program," he started, "You did fairly well in that last one."
"I was shot twice,"
"Only because of the limitations on the program," he replied, "It was your resourcefulness that stopped you."
Zandra sighed.
"Okay."
Cover nodded once and moved behind her chair. In moments, she was back in a program. This time though, it was much different.
She was in a gray room. It looked like an office maybe, almost empty with only a desk and filing cabinets. On the desk there was a cellphone which soon began to ring. Zandra picked it up.
"Yes?"
"This is a different program," Kesia said, "You will have only one agent at a time. Once you go through the gray door in front of you, they will come."
"From where?"
"Any red door you see. All the rooms are different. You can find almost anything,"
"Right,"
Kesia paused for a moment.
"I guess you're ready then,"
"Okay, see you."
"Good luck,"
"Bye."
Zandra hung up the phone. Anything can be found in the rooms? She looked around in the small enclosure. Grey door in front of her, and red behind. That wouldn't leave much time to get away; she would have to be fast. She tried to imagine what would be behind the door in front of her. A hallway, perhaps? Kesia had mentioned many doors, so surely there would have to be a hallway... That sounded right. Anticipate, she reminded herself, her hand on the doorknob. Anticipate.
She shoved herself through the door and as she did, she heard the door behind her open. Zandra had been partly right - there were many doors, but the room she was in was more of a reception hall. In front of her sat a modern red sofa, with potted plants on each side. Further ahead was a reception desk. To its left was a huge staircase, which spiraled around the desk and up into the air. There was an elevator further off, but to her immediate left were bathrooms. It was very bright, and very empty.
She took it all in an instant, knowing that the agent would be immediately behind her. He probably had a gun, too. She ran forward, and as she did, she heard the door behind her open. That was quick, she thought off-handedly, then scolded herself. She would have to try and stop him now, because she wasn't sure yet where to go. Zandra looked around quickly to try and find a possible weapon, but all she could set her eyes on were the plants next to her. Might as well...
It had only been an instant since the agent had opened the door. She still had time. Zandra grabbed the plant by its leaves, planning to swing it straight at the approaching agent. It was heavier than she thought. It's not heavy! She lifted the whole pot up and swung it around her head, shifting her weight unintentionally. It was still heavy, and she let go of it earlier than she had planned. Zandra watched in trepidation as it slowly flew towards the agent. Don't waste time, she told herself. Zandra still watched the impending collision as she began to back away. Go!
It hit him in the legs, and sent the agent to the ground, legs still partially covered by the broken ceramic. He wasn't dead, but he had been stopped for now. The closest door was the ladies' bathroom, and she ran through it. She didn't look back at the agent, but he was already getting back up for the chase.
She paused before resuming her escape, confused by her un-matched surroundings. Zandra now found herself in an off-white greasy-walled hallway with doors at every five feet. This didn't look like a bathroom, but there was no time to worry. She ran to the right, then to the left, the hallway seemed to go on forever, with infinite choices... What door to go in? She thought she heard a door open behind her, but she wasn't sure. Anticipate. She came to a turn in the hallway - there was a red door on her right, and a table next to it. Thinking ahead, she propped the table against the red door, hoping that if she was actually able to terminate one agent, the other would be a little delayed.
Certainly the agent would by now be close, and Zandra had to remind herself to keep moving. The hallway would be too small to fight hand-to-hand. She took the door to the left of her, hoping that maybe it would lead her to a place with weapons.
It didn't. Now she was in a warmly lit home, on the second floor in a hallway overlooking a family room. She looked around - there was a door to her left, at the end of the hallway. Hurry, she told herself as she sprinted along. She kicked the door open fiercely and let it slam shut as she ran into the next room.
"Finally," she said aloud as she paused in the small room. It was a tiny room with white washed concrete walls, and it was filled with ammunition. She scanned the racks and quickly chose a 12-guage shotgun and turned back around to face the door from which she came. It was not long until the agent burst through it, knocking several pieces of the door flying.
Zandra caught him by surprise, shooting him three times straight before he even registered that he was being attacked. He fell in a heap on the linoleum floor, and flashed white before turning into a young woman. Zandra grabbed two additional MP5's from a shelf and ran out of the other door.
She was in a school gymnasium, and immediately noticed that there was a red door only feet away from her. That meant she only had moments before one would come out.
Zandra climbed up the retracted bleachers and leapt over to the suspended basketball hoop. She was now straddling the orange circle, again watching the red door. But the agent didn't come through the red door. He came through the grey one.
Zandra let go a volley of fire from her arsenal, and she again was able to catch the agent by surprise. He fell to the floor, and turned into a teenage boy. The red door opened.
For some reason, Zandra hesitated before firing again - but that was all the time that the agent needed. When she did start to fire, he effortlessly dodged her every bullet, disappearing in a blur of movement. Zandra was horrified - if he knew what was coming, he could dodge anything. She still continued to fire, hoping that maybe one shot would get through...
She was out of ammunition. Time seemed to slow down as she threw her guns to the side, preparing to jump off of the hoop and hopefully out of danger. The agent pulled out his gun as she coiled for the jump. He started to fire as she leapt to the bleachers, but luckily he missed her - though it was only by inches.
Blindly she sprinted to the other end of the gymnasium. He was still firing, and it was almost like she could hear the bullets as they came. She knew to veer to the left, because he was shooting at her right. They always go to the right, she thought. Zandra yanked open the door and slammed it shut behind her.
It was almost like a submarine deck, the room was so full with metal. To her glad surprise, she found that the door behind her was boltable. She locked it quickly, thinking that the agent would have a tough time getting through it. But where to go? It looked like there were no more doors.
A phone rang.
